Harley Benton TE-30 After 1 Year - Guitar Review & Demo

[@CollectorIX]

You get a thumbs up for demoing "The Metal". You cant kill the metal. The metal will live on.

[@LeoPlaysAlone]

Thank you! No one can destroy the metal!

[@fasteddievh2072]

Excellent job! I purchased one because of this review. So far I love it. The neck feels incredible. I really appreciate it. Thanks! 👍🙏🤘

[@LeoPlaysAlone]

Oh, I'm so happy to hear that! Congratulations on your new guitar and have fun with it!

[@fasteddievh2072]

@@LeoPlaysAlone Will do! (You earned another subscriber too!). 🤘👍

[@atteljas]

Ive bought ten HBs, since buying the first one. This and one of the fusions seem to be my go to guitars. I really like this one

[@spokes28]

Have you taken the neck off to see if the cracks transfer into the wood?

[@adrian_V99]

Very honest of you to mention weight. Far too heavy to gig with .Traditionally Teles have weighed just under 7 lb. (3.2 kg.). Sounds good though. Harley Benton saves a lot by using inferior woods.

[@LeoPlaysAlone]

Indeed, it was surprise for me it was sooo heavy. Reminded me of the Les Pauls really)

[@StevieZero]

That's like saying a Les Paul is too heavy to gig with...HB uses Bass wood sames lot of makers even fender are using it...

[@stupot205]

@@StevieZero to be fair, I recently picked up one of these and it is noticeably much heavier than my LP..

[@DonFe]

very nice and down to earth review. Thanks

[@mariapstl1858]

cool review, I'm thinking about getting it in the future! what's your amplifier?

[@LeoPlaysAlone]

Hey Maria, I'm happy you like it =) I have Blackstar FLY mini amplifier, but that's mostly used for practicing. For the records I use Neural DSP plugins. You can see them in the video with the presets I used.

[@szymonmielczarek407]

Hey great video! I have the same guitar and I'm really enjoying it ! Got a question, how do you make to remove the backround noise, I have the Focusrite scarlett solo and Neural DSP. Maybe I have too much gain or something, I wish you could help me :)

[@LeoPlaysAlone]

Hey Szymon, thank you for the positive feedback! My audio interface is Behringer U-Phoria UMC202HD, but Focusrite is higher level, so it shouldn't be a problem. I guess it's just a common noize from the single pickups. A short and easy way to remove is to kick the noize gate a bit higher. Luckily all Neural DSP plugins have it out of the box. It's the "Gate" knob between Input and Mode buttons. Of course it will eat a bit of gain, but give it a try. Maybe it will still be fine for you.

[@semyonboyk0]

Cool review, thank you

[@marcosaganju6114]

Nice review and playing! do you know about the pickups? Alnico or ceramic? i think about buy this tele.. Thanks!

[@LeoPlaysAlone]

Thank you, Marcos! It doesn't really say anywhere if it's alnico or ceramic. I heard ceramics are often set to cheaper instruments and the output is quite high, so I would say it's probably ceramic. But that's my wild guess.

[@marcosaganju6114]

@@LeoPlaysAlone I will buy one of them! For the price is a good tone and beautiful guitar!

[@LeoPlaysAlone]

Great choice! I believe, you won't be disappointed.

[@alexfeind3759]

Nice Video! A short conclusion at the end would have been good too I think. Picked up the same guitar as a beginner. The previous owner did some mods such as Tonerider Pickups, Brass saddles and some other mechanics. I like it too but have nothing to compare it to, lol.

[@LeoPlaysAlone]

Thank you for your feedback Alex! Indeed I didn't add the conclusion at the end as I wanted to provide as much information as possible, but allow the viewer to make his own conclusion. I also plan to do some modding with my Harley Benton. Exactly to change the neck pickup to Seymour Duncan Quarter Pound. Of course I will shoot the comparison video. So we will see if it's a good idea)

[@tiptizlode4995]

I got one of these base on the good reviews on You Tube, but the colour is actually brilliant white not whats shown on the website, the fret ends were razor sharp, also it was extremely heavy, heavier than my std Les Paul .... I returned it ... 😞

[@gercarey3261]

Does anyone actually plug into an amp anymore?

[@mrbesserwisser7447]

HB's are great value for money, if you like very flat 14 inch neck radius

[@benallmark9671]

What kind of software are you using to get the amp tones ?

[@LeoPlaysAlone]

Hey Ben, I used Cory Wong and Nolly Neurlal DSP plugins on this video. That's pretty much it, no extra editing. You can find the links to those plugins in the description. They're quite pricy though, so it makes sense to wait for a nice discount on Black Friday ;) It was 50% off last time.

[@benallmark9671]

@@LeoPlaysAlone thanks for that Tim bit of info. Good to know. Would say the plug-ins or whatever there called are worth the price ?

[@LeoPlaysAlone]

Neural DSP plugins are definitely worth the price, in my opinion. And I tried many. Check other KZbin videos about it to make your mind. BTW they have quad cortex processor now for those who don’t want to be attached to the computers.

[@Ardolynk]

I remember times when this model was available for 88 EUR and had 22 frets as well as TE-20 :-(

[@LeoPlaysAlone]

Oh, thanks for sharing Michael! I didn't know that. Though I heard Harley Benton quality was not that good before. Could it be they decided to raise the price for better quality?

[@Ardolynk]

@@LeoPlaysAlone I'm not sure. At least, it had sharp fret ends, but it doesn't depend on build quality, just unavoidable moisture drop. I have no other complains. It rather looked like a dumping price. Another example is Epiphone Les Paul Melody Maker, as I know. Formerly known as Les Paul SL, it costed 99 EUR on start, now its price is higher as well.

[@philipchau6019]

@@Ardolynk I got one when it was 88 euros too. The frets were decent on mine. Not sharp at all but also gritty (not polished) which is expected for a guitar of that price. It sounded good but may have different pickups than the guitar in this video. The neck pickup is very overly bass heavy. The neck pickup is good and the middle position is very good

[@AnotherOneTrox]

Are there any missing screws on the pickguard?

[@LeoPlaysAlone]

Sharp eyes you have, Antonio. Indeed some screws are missing, but that's my fault. I removed the pickguard long time ago to see how the electronics is done. And of course, I've lost some screws.

[@AnotherOneTrox]

@@LeoPlaysAlone Oh well, i tought they fell in 1 year ahah. I am interested in buying a hb tele, i can't decide between te-20 and te-30, can you help me?

[@LeoPlaysAlone]

Hey Antonio! I never really touched TE-20, but in terms of specs those guitars are quite similar to me, so it's more a matter of taste. But if you like them both, go for the more expensive one if you can afford it. In my opinion, value per price is really great for the Harley Benton guitars.

[@murraymusic2633]

Love my TE30, although I have modded it somewhat with Wilkinson p/ups... and new tuners.... and a new bridge...

[@LeoPlaysAlone]

Oh, it must be looking so nice with those upgrades! I also plan to set new pickups and electrics on my HB. It's such a nice guitar for modding.

[@SmokedHam444]

I just wish this one had 22 frets like the other HB teles. I really like the white color

[@salvasssn]

What is the song of the sound examples, the first

[@LeoPlaysAlone]

It’s not really a song. I just came up with that melody for this video.

[@juansalvo2374]

Thanks!

[@jacobwingard3676]

where are all the scratchplate screws?

[@LeoPlaysAlone]

I removed the pickguard to check the scratch is not too terrible and lost some of the screws. Totally my fault.

[@nueeardente4240]

Bought one and modded it all to get a very good instrument. BUT... Being a woodworker I can guarantee the body of the one I've been shipped is NOT made of ash. It is some sort of pine. No doubt about it. Maybe it's just mine... Unscrew the neck if you wish to check.

[@LeoPlaysAlone]

Hey Nuée! Hah, they clearly say it's ash on the website. That is so weird.. did you ask Thomann about it? I wonder how they would comment it oO

[@nueeardente4240]

@@LeoPlaysAlone I didn't try to contact thomann since I'm not really annoyed by the fact it's not ash. I'm just an average guitar player and to me the real difference is made by pickups. But I would have been pissed to go through the same situation with an acoustic guitar. I suppose those guitar are built in huge series in a big factory, so if you happen to run out of a type of wood, well... You replace it with what you have left... Or a Te20 body... Or it might be an isolated mistake (I doubt it). Anyway for such a ridiculous price, it remains a good guitar, ash or not.

[@LeoPlaysAlone]

@@nueeardente4240 Exactly my thoughts there! For that price it plays and sounds good enough, so it doesn't matter much which wood is actually used there.

[@jurajcagan5874]

Did anybody measure this TE-30 body thickness?

[@LeoPlaysAlone]

It's 4cm

[@jurajcagan5874]

@@LeoPlaysAlone thanx mate!

[@itsassel]

How it's not humming??

[@LeoPlaysAlone]

Hey Assel, good question! I didn't really do any editing to remove the hum. It's just the guitar plugin with inbuilt noise gate. You can see the plugin configuration on the pictures in the video.

[@itsassel]

@@LeoPlaysAlone is it the guitar that has built in noise gate, or you amp, i'm confused cz it's cheap guitar.

[@LeoPlaysAlone]

No, it's not guitar having noise gate, but the plugin. I don't use real amps here. Only the plugin from Neural DSP which emulates the amp. And that plugin has the noise gate. There is still some hum can be heard actually, but the good signal is much higher, so the hum is barely noticeable.

[@itsassel]

@@LeoPlaysAlone thank you ❤

[@greenfly1264]

Playing bruv 👌

[@strut73]

twanging!!!

[@ozflyer1]

Made in China with crap ceramic pickups

[@LeoPlaysAlone]

I guess, compared to Japanese ESP this guitar could be called crapy indeed. But we need to keep in mind the price difference =)